Briefcase

Briefcase Tech Ltd is a London-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) company operating in the financial technology sector, specifically targeting the accounting industry. The firm is developing what it describes as an "AI-native" accounting automation platform designed to streamline and automate manual and time-consuming tasks for accounting firms.

The company was founded in 2024 by Reuben Steenkamp and Ján Stehlík. Steenkamp, the CEO, brings significant domain expertise from his time in the CFO's office at Starling Bank. Stehlík's background is in building artificial intelligence systems at the fintech startup Nous, providing the technical foundation for Briefcase's product. This combination of financial industry insight and AI engineering experience underpins the company's strategic approach.

Briefcase's core business revolves around automating complex accounting workflows, including bookkeeping, transaction categorization, and month-end close processes. The platform utilizes multimodal AI, which can process and integrate various data types simultaneously, to extract information from documents like receipts and invoices. It then uses machine-learning algorithms, trained on a client's historical accounting data and contextual cues from HMRC legislation, to automatically categorize transactions and assign correct VAT rates. The system is designed to integrate directly with established accounting ledger software such as Xero, QuickBooks Online, and Sage. A key feature is an Audit Log, which ensures that every AI-driven decision is transparent and auditable.

The company's business model appears to be subscription-based, typical for a SaaS platform. Its primary clients are accounting and bookkeeping firms. In December 2024, Briefcase announced a significant milestone, securing $3 million in a seed funding round led by the venture capital firm Earlybird, with participation from Entrepreneur First, Tiny, and several angel investors. This capital is intended to expand the engineering and product teams and accelerate product development. Although still in a pre-launch phase as of late 2024, Briefcase is actively collaborating with several UK accounting firms in a beta program to refine its product. The official product launch is anticipated in the first half of 2025.

Keywords: accounting automation, AI bookkeeping, fintech, SaaS, accountancy software, multimodal AI, month-end close automation, bookkeeping automation, transaction categorization, VAT compliance, financial automation, accounting technology, Reuben Steenkamp, Ján Stehlík, Earlybird VC, UK startup, agentic workflows, Xero integration, QuickBooks integration, Sage integration